New England United Antiwar Conference MIT Jan 30, 2010
Panel #1 The Drive Towards Empire and Endless War
Bruce Gagnon, Global Network

I worked with Bruce in his early days as a nuclear freeze activist in Orlando, Florida. He was a pretty good speaker and budding leader, though I had some minor issues with his style, but I had no idea he would go on to become a globally recognized nuclear arms/weapons expert with Space for Peace. He’s been a tireless activist, speaker, writer and dissident who tells the truth to a world that mostly doesn’t want to listen.

Batch says “Poignant, playful and sweetly subversive with warm harmonies – acoustic music that zings!”

WHAT: Benefit Concert for Peace House & Church of the Open Arms

COST: Free Admission – (freewill donations during concert gratefully accepted)

WHEN: Saturday, Feb. 13, 7:00 pm (doors open at 6:30 for
refreshments & social)

SEE: www.checkeredpastmusic.com
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Kansas City folk singers “Checkered Past” will perform a benefit concert, admission free, in Oklahoma City, Saturday evening, February 13th. Freewill donations during the concert will benefit the Peace House and Church of the Open Arms. “This event is for political liberals who love live music,” said Peace House board member Donna Compton. The concert begins at 7 pm, at Church of the Open Arms, 3131 N. Pennsylvania Ave., Oklahoma City. Doors open at 6:30.

Compton described Checkered Past as “a group of five dedicated social activists, wielding guitars, bass, mandolin, fiddle, flute, and vocal harmony in a war against gloom and resignation.” She said their original music includes “sweet and personal love songs, crusty blues, silly social commentary and jitterbugs.” One member of the group said, “If we can’t find the song we are looking for in the last 500 years, we just write one.” Event participants are invited to bring their own instruments to “jam with the band” after the concert.

Checkered Past was the only American band to perform at a global food conference, in Turin, Italy, in 2008. At the conference, some 5,000 food producers from around the world gathered to discuss sustainable and local food production to improve people’s health and harmony with nature. The group’s website is www.checkeredpastmusic.com.

… the behavior of Justice Alito at last night’s State of the Union address — visibly shaking his head and mouthing the words “not true” when Obama warned of the dangers of the Court’s Citizens United ruling — was a serious and substantive breach of protocol that reflects very poorly on Alito and only further undermines the credibility of the Court. It has nothing to do with etiquette and everything to do with the Court’s ability to adhere to its intended function.

There’s a reason that Supreme Court Justices — along with the Joint Chiefs of Staff — never applaud or otherwise express any reaction at a State of the Union address. It’s vital — both as a matter of perception and reality — that those institutions remain apolitical, separate and detached from partisan wars. The Court’s pronouncements on (and resolutions of) the most inflammatory and passionate political disputes retain legitimacy only if they possess a credible claim to being objectively grounded in law and the Constitution, not political considerations. The Court’s credibility in this regard has — justifiably — declined substantially over the past decade, beginning with Bush v. Gore (where 5 conservative Justices issued a ruling ensuring the election of a Republican President), followed by countless 5-4 decisions in which conservative Justices rule in a way that promotes GOP political beliefs, while the more “liberal” Justices do to the reverse (Citizens United is but the latest example). Beyond that, the endless, deceitful sloganeering by right-wing lawyers about “judicial restraint” and “activism” — all while the judges they most revere cavalierly violate those “principles” over and over — exacerbates that problem further (the unnecessarily broad scope of Citizens United is the latest example of that, too, and John “balls and strikes” Roberts may be the greatest hypocrite ever to sit on the Supreme Court). All of that is destroying the ability of the judicial branch to be perceived — and to act — as one of the few truly apolitical and objective institutions.

Justice Alito’s flamboyantly insinuating himself into a pure political event, in a highly politicized manner, will only hasten that decline.

Well, you know how it is. I also came home with:

• A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, which I’ve been wanting to read since it came out and got rave reviews with J.D. Salinger mentioned repeatedly.
• Mountains Beyond Mountains:The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World, a timely book about the physician-founder of the Haiti medical aid organization, Partners in Health
• Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation, about the key men who founded our nation, the brilliant but flawed Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, Madison, Hamilton and Burr.

These three were on the “Buy 2, Get the 3rd Free” table. How could I resist? I also got book from the $2 “Please get it out of our store” table, The Secret Life of Lobsters: How Fishermen and Scientists Are Unraveling the Mysteries of Our Favorite Crustacean.”

This country’s politics are clearly in a state of rapid, dramatic transition. A transition to exactly what is far from clear. The way I see it, we may resume our rapid descent into the abyss of fascism so ruthlessly engineered by Nixon, Reagan and the two Bushes.To be sure, that is a very likely future for America, post-Obama. However, instead, we may build upon and “professionalize” the liberal, widely popular movements that rallied behind Obama in ‘08 and restore the messy, far from perfect, but nonetheless liberal democracy that was America before the modern rightwing proceeded to wreck the country and discard our values.

Really, we don’t have a choice. Many of us have already forgotten what it was like under Bush, when an American government hellbent on establishing fascism by any means necessary was in power. But I haven’t. Murders, torture, a country left permanently undefended from perils both manmade and natural, arbitrary imprisonment, censorship, stolen elections, joblessness, thievery, greed, hypocrisy and lawlessness enshrined as moral values, increased poverty and ill health.

I’m progressive as anyone, but we have to consider what’s feasible in the current political reality, which is pretty horrendous because a dangerous number of Americans and the Republican Party have gone batshit crazy. This is why I *reluctantly* decided to move back into the Democratic Party, and why I just as reluctantly decided that Bernie Sanders’ additions to the HCR bill made it better than the status quo. It’s one small step forward, but at least it’s movement, and not just about who believes X is the best policy. Let’s agitate & organize for a better Congress, not bash each other relentlessly (and generally unfairly) on the Tubes.

I’m registered as a Democrat because of this state’s restrictive ballot access laws that let the R’s and D’s freeze out third parties, but I’m a Green at heart. It seems to me that if a supposedly “major” party that gets a ballot listing regardless of its strength in the state can’t field a challenge for U.S. SENATE, it shouldn’t be in a position to keep other parties on the sidelines.

Frankly, if the Oklahoma Democratic Party doesn’t run a candidate for the effing SENATE, it deserves to fade into obscurity. Talk about an embarrassment! Unexpected things can happen, you know, to candidates and to public perceptions — even in Oklahoma. George Allen (remember him?) was supposed to be a sitting Senator with a lock on the R presidential nomination in 2012. Ted “Series of Tubes” Stevens was supposed to be Senator from Alaska for life, and now Begich (D) has that seat and is voting aye for health care reform. Of course it will be difficult and odds-defying, but to not even field a candidate is even more insane.

This is especially the case with Coburn’s recently exposed shenanigans with “The Fellowship” aka “The Family” in DC, as a negotiator between Ensign and his mistress. Just to have a chance to throw that dirt on the campaign trail must have some Okie salivating!

I can’t believe this can be the case, although no one has announced publicly, it’s still possible that a candidate is waiting until after the beginning of the year (though for a race of this magnitude, it’s getting quite late). If it is, I hope the Libertarians (the largest third party) or even the hibernating OK Greens will run someone. It would be a great opportunity for those forced to be benchwarmers to get on the political map around here.

Although I had an account on the site for commenting, I was never a regular reader and maybe posted once or twice; still, I feel a little dirty.

I have unsubscribed from their action e-list, and though there’s no way to delete the account on the site, I did create a filter that will send any messages to the email address listed there right into the trash.

I am also removing FDL from my blogroll. It’s “open seating” but I do have minimal standards. Unfortunately, Marcy Wheeler (aka emptywheel) will have to go too, since her otherwise excellent blog has its home there.

I’m not going to go into it; if you care, there’s Google.